That is according to an article in the newspaper Ta Nea citing data from a study by the Labour Institute of the trade union GSEE (the General Confederation of Greek Workers).
According to the researchers approximately 1.2 million workers face delays in the payment of their wages of between 3 and 12 months. At the same time it has now become commonplace for workers to receive payments ‘in kind’ in lieu of actual money.
Many employers hire workers providing as ‘payment’ goods and services such as free accommodation in hotel lodgings or free daily meals.
In the retail sector in many instances shop owners pay a portion of their employee’s salaries in the form of coupons for food and other items. The phenomenon, according to Ta Nea is not restricted to supermarkets but to other businesses in the retail sector who pay up to one third of their employees’ monthly salaries in the form of supermarket coupons.
According to the GSEE research most employers turn toward the alternative methods of compensating workers, claiming an inability to pay wages.
This leads to the following phenomena:
Payment in kind: The ‘in-kind’ maybe be free accommodation in a hotel room and/or daily meals provided by the employer in return for 8 hours of work per day.
Wages paid on a quarterly as opposed to monthly basis.
Young people (chiefly under-25s) hired for 180 euros per month for 4-hour work-days, i.e 2.25 euros per hour.
About 1,000,000 workers do not receive vacation time as required by law.
There are also increasing incidents of employers paying workers 100 – 200 euros per month, while providing assurances that the remainder will be paid at a later date.